Differences Between Cat And Dog People

This is another study on the differences between dog and cat lovers. The researcher was Denise Guastello, an associate professor of psychology at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA.

This study reinforces what we already know from previous studies, but there's some additional information which is interesting.

Dog photo: USAG-Humphreys
Cat photo: Eirik Newth

In this study the researcher surveyed 600 college students. About 60% of the students surveyed said they would dog people compare to a much lower 11% who said they were cat people. The remaining 29% said they like both animals or did not like animals.

Those who said they were dog people tended to be more outgoing, lively and energetic while cat lovers were more open-minded, more sensitive and introverted than dog lovers. Importantly, cat people tend to be nonconformist. They appear to be more free thinking and more able to form their own ideas rather than follow the rules which appears to apply more to dog people.

Dog people won't like this but the study concluded that cat lovers were more intelligent than dog lovers.

A possible reason why dog lovers were assessed as being more energetic is because they have to be when taking care of a dog whereas the domestic cat being more independent and more able to take care of himself requires less in the way of energetic input. Most cats don't go outside on a leash for a walk with their owner whereas it has to happen once or twice a day for a dog.

For dog lovers the most attractive aspect of caring for a dog was companionship while for cat people it appears that affection was more important.

We know how dog owners sometimes look like their dog, well it also seems that people select their cat or dog on the basis that their personalities are similar. If cats are independent then so are their owners. There's a good match.